(Washington) New weekly jobless claims in the United States fell last week to their lowest level since September 1969 amid a labor shortage, the Labor Department said Thursday.
From November 28 to December 4, 184,000 people registered as unemployed to receive an allowance, a decrease of 43,000. This is much less than expected by analysts who expected 228,000 new registrations.
The figures for the week before (November 21 to 27), however, have been revised upwards.
The drop in new jobless claims is an indication that employers are reluctant to lay off workers when vacancies are high, consumer demand is high and the pool of potential workers remains smaller than before the pandemic.
To attract workers, employers also offer higher wages and improved benefits.
For the month of November alone, hourly wages rose 4.8% in November compared to the previous year, the Labor Department announced on Friday, at the same level as in October and well above what ‘they were before the pandemic.
As a result, on average over four weeks, jobless claims amounted to 218,750, down 21,250 from the revised average for the previous week.
“This is the lowest level since March 7, 2020 when it was 215,250,” said the Ministry of Labor.